Resurgent Antisemitism: Global Perspectives

3. Manifestations of Antisemitism in British Intellectual and Cultural Life

3 Manifestations of Antisemitism in British Intellectual and Cultural Life Paul Bogdanor British antisemitism has a long and depressing history. The first recorded blood libel occurred in England in 1144. A Christian document testified thus: “The Jews of Norwich brought a child before Easter, and tortured him with all the tortures wherewith our Lord was tortured, and on Long Friday hanged him on a rod in hatred of our Lord, and afterwards buried him.”1 It was an English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer, who preserved the calumny for all time in his Canterbury Tales.2 One of the first pogroms took place in York in 1190. A century later came the first total expulsion of a Jewish population from a European country; Jews were not readmitted to England until 1656, after a nearly four-­ hundred-­ year absence . In England the tradition of literary antisemitism was inaugurated, and it includes some of the greatest classics of English literature: from the usurious Shylock in The Merchant of Venice to the villainous Fagin in Oliver Twist, stereotypes of Jewish power and cruelty (Shylock’s “pound of flesh”) have merged seamlessly with contempt for Jewish claims of victimhood (“If you prick me, do I not bleed?”) and a scarcely hidden desire for the Jew’s humiliation (Shylock forfeits his wealth and converts to Christianity).3 In spite of hopes and expectations that such prejudices would disappear over time, it is clear that they have deep cultural and psychological roots and that British Jews are now experiencing another outbreak.4 This is not to suggest that there is an unbroken line of continuity from the first blood libel in medieval England to the latest blood libel on the London stage. Just as the composition of the country’s population has changed over the centuries, so too has the prevalence and nature of anti-­ Jewish 66 | Paul Bogdanor prejudice. Whereas antisemitism was as likely to be found among the general pub­ lic as among the ruling elite as recently as a few generations ago,5 today it is expressed primarily by members of the intellectual and cultural establishment (whether or not they see themselves as such). Whereas anti-­ Jewish prejudice used to be far more common among the denizens of the traditionalist right (although it was never exclusive to them),6 today it is more likely to be espoused by the proponents of po­ liti­ cally correct leftism (although, again, it is by no means exclusive to them). And it is a commonplace that whereas British antisemites once cried “send the Jews back to Palestine,” the pretext for their outbursts nowadays is of­ten the fact that the Jews have returned to Palestine. One straightforward measure of the prevalence of antisemitism is the level of hate crimes against British Jews, diligently monitored by the Community Security Trust. Its reports show that, since records began in 1984, antisemitic incidents reached their highest levels in 2009 (926) and 2010 (639).7 A sec­ ond relevant test is the opinion polls. From these we learn that in 2004, nearly one in seven Britons considered the Holocaust exaggerated , and nearly one in five thought that a Jew would be less acceptable than a non-­ Jew as prime minister.8 Five years later, more than one in seven held Jews in the financial sector somewhat culpable for the global financial crisis, and almost one in five blamed Jews for the death of Jesus.9 The results in other European countries were even more disturbing, but what such quantitative measures do not reveal is the role of British antisemites in initiating antisemitic or potentially antisemitic campaigns that later spread overseas. Furthermore, quantitative measures cannot tell us to what extent antisemitism is tolerated by the wider society. It is the conjunction of antisemitic episodes and the ever-­increasing tolerance for them that will be investigated in what follows. We can enumerate several stages in the relationship between antisemitism and the wider democratic society. In the best-­ case scenario, antisemitic outbursts are rare, and each episode is instantly and forcefully rejected by the government and the media. In the sec­ ond stage, antisemitism begins to spread, but is still widely condemned. In the third stage, antisemitism spreads and is widely tolerated, despite pious denunciations. Finally, antisemitism continues to escalate; it is generally tolerated; and there is no longer any serious pretence of condemnation. This paper contends that over the past decade, British society has moved from the sec­ Antisemitism in British Life | 67 ond to...